They rely on leaked information, analysis of security spending, and satellite imagery, as well as accounts from individual families. The Xinjiang region has a population of 22 million with about 10 million Uyghurs—including other ethnic minorities, that puts the Muslim Turkic-speaking population closer to 12 million.
A media organization run by Uyghur exiles published a document link in Japanese on partial detainee numbers for dozens of Xinjiang counties, reportedly leaked by someone within the public security industry in the region. Zenz concluded there was a detention level of He also notes the detentions started earlier than Satellite images have also provided insight into how many may be detained. Agence France Presse concludes there were at least facilities in October , with the review of government documents.
In the same month, Zenz estimated paywall there were 1, A University of British Columbia law student named Shawn Zheng is continuously verifying camps found off Google Earth—at times adding, at times subtracting facilities that get identified as having another purpose—with 94 as of June From the images, rough estimates on how many are held in the facilities are made with measuring square footage.
Scholar Zenz recently updated his estimate to 1. Updated satellite images show the camps expanding in size, alongside rising regional security finances and higher arrest numbers. Several countries, including the US, Canada and the Netherlands, have accused China of committing genocide - defined by international convention as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
The declarations follow reports that, as well as interning Uyghurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uyghur women to suppress the population, separating children from their families, and attempting to break the cultural traditions of the group.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has said the treatment of Uyghurs amounts to "appalling violations of the most basic human rights", and the UK parliament declared in April that China was committing a genocide in Xinjiang.
A UN human rights committee in said it had credible reports that China was holding up to a million people in "counter-extremism centres" in Xinjiang. Earlier, leaked documents known as the China Cables made clear that the camps were intended to be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline and punishments. People who have managed to escape the camps have reported physical, mental and sexual torture.
Women have spoken of mass rape and sexual abuse. Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the s, sometimes flaring into violence. In about people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uyghurs who wanted their own state. But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent. Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces.
According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor people's behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.
Since , when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns. Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uyghur culture. China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
It said it that it had released everyone from its "re-education" camp system, though testimony from the region suggests many are still detained and many were transferred from camps to formal prisons.
China says the crackdown in Xinjiang is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism. It insists that Uyghur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uyghurs.
China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uyghur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated". China 'has created dystopian hellscape' in Xinjiang. Uyghur imams targeted in China's Xinjiang crackdown. The cost of speaking up against China. In October , Germany issued a joint statement on behalf of 39 U. A group of Uighur activists lodged a complaint against China at the International Criminal Court last year, but in December the court declined to prosecute; China like the U.
The plaintiffs had hoped to build a case on alleged crimes against Uighurs living in the ICC member states of Tajikistan and Cambodia. The court said it would keep the file open and could pursue a case pending more evidence. In April , Human Rights Watch issued an extensive report on the situation in Xinjiang, making the case that China was committing crimes against humanity.
On his last day in office in January, former secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that, in his determination, China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity. New Zealand is especially vulnerable to the threat of trade retaliation from China, but other governments are being cautious too. As it happens, the U.
The Biden administration issued additional sanctions on Chinese officials in March in a coordinated effort with the U. There are other things the administration could do, such as prioritizing Uighurs for asylum and resettlement in the U.
The State Department has warned that companies with even indirect investments or supply-chain connections in Xinjiang are at high risk for violating U. This legal risk, along with rising consumer awareness, is putting pressure on major apparel brands to eliminate Xinjiang cotton from their supply chains. This is no easy task, as China produces 20 percent of the global cotton supply, and 85 percent of that is grown in Xinjiang, including some of the highest-quality cotton in the world.
The campaign by Customs and Border Protection to crack down on imports made with forced labor is beginning to have an impact, but its enforcement capabilities remain limited, and plenty of other countries are still buying Xinjiang cotton — though the E. Already a subscriber? Log in or link your magazine subscription.
Account Profile. Sign Out. Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Graphic: Intelligencer. A Uighur woman in Xinjiang arranges her stall in September , while the billboard behind her shows the late Communist Party leader Mao Zedong. Locations of suspected detention facilities. Chinese flags are displayed on a road leading to a facility believed to be a reeducation camp for mostly Muslim ethnic minorities on the outskirts of Hotan in May Tags: china human rights explainer politics olympics winter olympics uighur More.
Most Viewed Stories. Over federal prison workers have been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for crimes since State lawmakers want to create a three-tier ranking system to more effectively warn people about the public-health threats of extreme heat. White racial resentments are on the rise again. Most Popular. More than 60 civilians, including many women and children, appear to have been killed, according to a new investigation. The two charges came after Bannon refused to comply with a House subpoena in the investigation into the January 6 riot at the U.
0コメント